Collaborative strengthening by multi-functional molecule 3-thiophenboric acid for efficient and stable planar perovskite solar cells

A novel interface material 3-Thiopheneboronic acid (TBA) is first utilized as a multi-functional layer for PSCs application, which achieves the collaborative optimization of 1) energy level arrangement, 2) interface defect passivation and 3) perovskite crystallization. Consequently, the efficiency of TBA-based device increase from 19.74% to 21.80%, with an excellent stability. • 3-Thiopheneboronic acid (TBA) is used as multifunctional interface material. • A synergy of energy level matching, defect passivation and better crystallization. • TBA-treated PSCs show an improvement in efficiency from 19.74% to 21.80%. • The ambient stability of PSCs is consequently enhanced by using TBA. Drawbacks like serious interface defects, imperfect energy level arrangement and uncontrollable perovskite nucleation hinder further improvement to achieve efficient and stable planar perovskite sollar cells (PSCs), which fortunately can be solved by interface modification with small molecules. However, it is still a challenge to develop more simple and efficient multi-functional small molecules to simultaneously solve these problems. Herein, conjugated small molecule 3-thiophenboric acid (TBA) was utilized for the first time at the SnO 2 /perovskite interface to achieve this goal. With the dipole moment of TBA, the energy level arrangement between SnO 2 and perovskite is optimized. Defects at both sides of the interface are passivated by functional groups on TBA effectively, inhibiting the non-radiative recombination and reducing the energy loss. Besides, the quality of perovskite film is improved due to inhibited disordered heterogeneous nucleation. As a result, the open voltage ( V OC ), short current density ( J SC ) and fill factor (FF) are all improved, which leads to a champion device with PCE up to 21.80%, much higher than 19.74% of control one. In addition, our optimized devices show excellent stability when storing for a long time, aging under high humidity and under continuous illumination. Our results provide a novel strategy to improve the efficiency and stability of PSCs synergistically by multi-functional conjugated small molecule.